Privately held commercial property company, Africrest Properties has announced that it has secured a financing facility with Futuregrowth Asset Management.

Africrest controls an office and retail portfolio which has a value in excess of R500 million and prides itself on being able to breathe new life into buildings that have been run down or badly managed.

Africrest often partners with tenants in the ownership of buildings and adds value by sourcing, arranging funding for the transaction and redeveloping the property, taking the hassle out of property ownership for tenants who want to be owners.

Africrest aim to increase their portfolio size to over R1,3 billion within the next five years.

The Futuregrowth arrangement will allow Africrest to gain a significant advantage over its competition as the funding can be utilised for future property acquisitions by the company.

Futuregrowth acts on behalf of its clients, many of which are third party pension funds, and invests in a wide range of debt and equity transactions raised by organisations in the capital markets.

Paul Semple, fund manager at Futuregrowth said “we are very excited by this opportunity as Africrest is a young but growing property investor which already has an established portfolio with a good spread of buildings, tenants and locations. Our specialised funding structure will underpin the growth of the company within a framework of contractual risk management checks and balances.”.

Over the last 10 years Africrest has helped play a fundamental role in the transformation of Braamfontein. Today Africrest owns commercial properties throughout the northern suburbs and surrounding areas of Johannesburg, including office buildings and retail centres.